St Mary's Art Group
DEMONSTRATIONS AND OTHER GROUP ACTIVITIES
Art has the power to transform, to illuminate, to educate, inspire and motivate. Harvey Fierstein
We occasionally have demonstrations from local artists. These are always a good way for our members to learn how to improve their painting techniques but also to appreciate the talent & hardwork of others. It also serves to give an input of much appreciated inspiration!
Kate Wade : April 28th 2026
We invited local landscape artist Kate Wade to speak to us, and show us something of her methods for working in watercolour and mixed media.. We were not disappointed. She wowed us with her layering: Starting with a hint of charcoal (fixed with sugar free soy milk, who knew that technique!) she layered over a vibrant watercolour wash, then more watercolour sometimes as splatter sometimes not. Darker areas were enhanced with Lighter coloured hues (another very unexpected move) there was some lifting out, and some fine crayon drawing to the finish. The painting was never tight and yet it was always carefully controlled, even the splattering. The end result was a loose and charming depiction of a typical corner of a Wiltshire field.
Thanks Kate!
Lynda Appleby
On Tuesday 8th April this year (2025) Lynda Appleby visited St Mary’s Art Group and spent over two hours demonstrating her ‘method’ for painting lively and colourful acrylics. Lynda is a professional artist who lives on the Wiltshire/Dorset border and has received huge acclaim for her stunning acrylics. She usually starts these by using a few vibrant acrylic inks to block in areas of colour and from that point on the paintings just leap off the page with their brilliance of colour. She took us through a landscape painting step by step and certainly managed to ‘wow’ us all throughout. We all thoroughly enjoyed her demonstration and went away inspired to ‘have a go’ as soon as possible. All artists have their own methods but not all manage to convey their technique with such enthusiasm & passion as Lynda did. Our thanks for an excellent morning Lynda.
